Aequitas pushes back launch date

Buy-side focused Canadian exchange Aequitas
Neo has set its launch date for late March, later than expected, and set a
schedule for two further testing sessions.

The new exchange will go live on 27 March,
a date it says will give market participants, dealers and vendors time to set
up their systems.

“With the starting line in clear sight, we
do however also fully understand the amount of work that market participants
have to complete to be launch ready without taking any unnecessary risks,” said
Joacim Wiklander, chief trading & data officer at Aequitas Neo in a message
to members and other stakeholders. “Based
on feedback received, and in order to ensure that all dealers and vendors have
the necessary time to complete all their work, we have decided to amend our
launch date and provide everyone with an additional two weeks to get ready”.

The exchange completed it first test
weekend on 24 January and has outlined two further test sessions, to take place
on 21 February and 7 March. A previously scheduled test for 7 February will no
longer take place.

Aequitas Neo is aiming to take on incumbent
Canadian exchange operator TMX, offering a secondary market, listings and a
market for unlisted shares. It has stated it wants to reform the exchange model
to serve the needs of investors and issuers, rather than high-frequency traders
(HFT), and will implement measures to discourage HFT strategies while
encouraging liquidity-providing market making.

Aequitas Neo has been set up by Jos
Schmitt, CEO, who previously founded Alpha ATS, an alternative trading platform
that was sold to TMX in 2012 after building up a 22% share of the Canadian
market.